Sunday, July 25, 2010

Roasted Carrots

Stick a fork in me.  I think I'm done!  I'm about to say something that I know a lot of us are uttering and muttering these days.  WHEN WILL THIS HEAT WAVE END?  I know you've said it, the weather man has said it, my neighbors have said it and there are a few of you out there have added some extra words here and there when you've said it, and we just not going to go there.  So, yes, we all agree ITS HOT!

Went to north Georgia today to meet a client and "iron" out some details.  Parked in the shade thinking ahead for when we left later in the day.  Do you know what happens when you park in the shade facing east at 10:30 in the morning?  Yep, by 2pm, it's not in the shade anymore.  Those big beautiful oaks and maples looked so promising.  Note to self, check which direction the sun is coming from if you don't want to risk being a human cupcake.

Something else, I always thought that it should be cooler in the mountains.  Logically, that makes sense, you are up higher, and it's cooler at higher elevations in the winter time, right.  So, makes perfect sense to me.  Down in the valley, trapped sweltering, fry an egg on the sidewalk heat, right?  Right.  Up high, mountain breeze, higher elevations - IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE COOLER!  I guess you figured out by now that there wasn't even a noticeable difference.  Pre cooled the car to a frigid 85 degrees and headed down the mountain watching the external temperature start off from 86, then 94, 95, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103!  Yes, in the middle of beautiful downtown Helen, Georgia at 3pm today, it was an unbelievable 103 degrees.  We thought about playing tourist on the way home, but once we got the car down to a comfy temperature inside, our eye was on Atlanta and the car was on auto pilot.  We were not stopping for any reason, unless of course we managed to find a drive through roadside veggie and boiled peanut stand where I could call out my order and drive around to the window and pick it up.  Hey, that's not a half bad idea.  That might have potential if this  heat keeps up much longer.  Come to think of it, I didn't see a whole lot of people out at any of those veggie stands and they could have put the peanuts in a bucket of ice water and they would have been ready to serve in about 10 minutes.  The only place we saw people braving the heat was on the streets of Helen making their way to the River Tubing park.  I've never seen so many hot pink and lime green inner tubes in my life.  There were so many people floating down that river, that you couldn't see the water.

Well, I guess I made my point about the heat, and you should now by know that there is usually some extra little message tied into to most of my stories.  So here goes.  It is really hot out today, but think about it like this, it could be a lot hotter for us someday.  We all have a story in the Book of Life.  From that history, so goes our eternity.  What is your story in the Great Book?  Don't know what I mean, well, open your Bible to that last book that was written by John and do a little reading.  Then rethink how you live your life and is it in such a way that everything you do is for the greater good and to HIS GLORY, not yours!  Remember, someday, we will all judged, not by the courts, not by our neighbors, not by the people that go to church with us.  "Boils" down to these two thoughts, lake of fire or entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.  I will let you "stew" on that for awhile.

Okay, I'm done,I'll chill out.  Besides which, I didn't want to cook and heat the house up so I thought I would just wrap everything in foil and toss it in the back of the truck to let it slow cook.  July in Georgia (and pretty much the rest of the country right now too) - well, let's just call it God's crock pot.  It's not everyday that you can roast your veggies while they are still deep in the ground!

Keep Cool and be blessed!
me